Smarty Pants Podcast

What the Nose Knows

Smell detectives, laughing gas, and all the forces we cannot see

By Stephanie Bastek | July 28, 2017
Courtesy University of Washington Press
Courtesy University of Washington Press

 

Melanie Kiechle introduces us to the 19th-century world of smell detectives, where the nose reigned supreme and cities mapped their stench patterns;  Sam Kean tells how gases can have a profound effect on us—from knocking us out to making us laugh, and even causing the French Revolution. Plus, top off our exploration into the sensory world of invisible forces with an excerpt from a new book on all the light we cannot see.



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